Poor build quality for "Assembled in USA" iMacs?

[comatose81]

I was in the Apple Store a little while ago playing with the new iMacs (while anxiously waiting for mine to arrive!) and noticed that two people brought in returns while I was there. I asked one of the workers if they had seen many returns since the release. They said that there had been a number of exchanges due to problems out of the box, and that the weird thing was that they had all been iMacs that were assembled in the US.

I decided to take a trip to another Apple Store about 15 minutes away and asked the same question. The worker said they had noticed a similar trend, though there were a couple that had been returned that were made in China.

Not sure they should have been telling me any of this, but it is interesting!

Anyone have an "Assembled in USA" iMac? How is it holding up?

 

[tom vilsack]

Maybe American glue isn't as good as Chinese.

 

[RPhoto]

I'm surprised they'd even volunteer this information!

 

[FuriousGreg]

Anyone have an "Assembled in USA" iMac? How is it holding up?

Thats a pretty small sample size to make much of, plus we don't know why the return, usually people return things become something isn't working properly and that generally means a faulty component not an assembly issue. We'll know in January if there is a trend.

 

[apple-win]

I was in the Apple Store a little while ago playing with the new iMacs (while anxiously waiting for mine to arrive!) and noticed that two people brought in returns while I was there. I asked one of the workers if they had seen many returns since the release. They said that there had been a number of exchanges due to problems out of the box, and that the weird thing was that they had all been iMacs that were assembled in the US.

I decided to take a trip to another Apple Store about 15 minutes away and asked the same question. The worker said they had noticed a similar trend, though there were a couple that had been returned that were made in China.

Not sure they should have been telling me any of this, but it is interesting!

Anyone have an "Assembled in USA" iMac? How is it holding up?

Mine (base model) is assembled in USA. I was just about to return it because of Bootcamp Assistant problem.

After I opened the iMac box, I ran Bootcamp Assistant to install Windows 7 rightaway. I have a new Superdrive and a new Windows 7 Ultimate DVD in retail box ready. After Bootcamp Assistant made a Windows partition and restarted, an error message popped up, it said my superdrive was not bootable, and it hung up in black screen. I had to pressed power button to turn it off and on, but I got the same error message. I wanted to return the iMAc to get refund, but it was raining.

I powered cycle my new iMac third time. I pressed and held Option key, Boot Menu showed up and I selected OS X to boot. Then I deleted the Windows partition and run Bootcamp Asistant again. This time I got no problem, I finally installed Windows 7 on my new 2012 iMac.

If it wasn't raining outside or if I was in panic mode, I would have returned my iMac. I had experience in using Bootcamp Assistant, I had installed Windows 7 on my 2010 Macbook Pro and 2010 iMac, no hiccup in the past.

My new 2012 iMac is so far so good, very quiet. But I have not tested the Display Port and Thundernolt port yet becasue I have no money to test it. Audio is lack of bass but I can live with it. Colour is too saturated comparing to my 2010 iMac. Overall I recommend it.

 

[12dylan34]

There's a 2010 21.5" at the place where I work, and the box, which is stashed on a shelf nearby, says "Assembled in USA," so I have a feeling that this has at least partly been going on for a while.

No poor quality to report on that machine, though.

 

[SuperCyborg]

I'm surprised they'd even volunteer this information!

This is correct. Apple store employees wouldn't say something this slanderous to a random person they don't know.

 

[HenryDJP]

My iMac 2011 was made in the USA and I have zero issues with it.

I'm finding the OP's "OP" a little suspect. Asking an employee if there have been returns on a product and then the employee replying that there have been several that come back and they happen to have been made in the USA doesn't sound like something an employee would just say, plus that employee could get into trouble saying it like that. Then the OP just happened to have nothing to do and gas to waste so he/she drove to another Apple store 15 minutes away just to ask that same question and the employee gave the same answer and mentioned China this time?? BS. Yeah.

 

[Ice Dragon]

I was about to say that my hopes were about to be crushed but I was going off of the assumption that all iMacs prior to 2012 were made in China.

I think when you are making (what I will also assume) to be millions of machines per day, you are going to have bad apples (no pun intended) no matter what country they are from.

 

[NJelect]

I am a union employee and don't like it when people that live in the USA make fun or insult the american worker.
Additionally, many foreigners come to the USA and for an unknown reason insult the USA and the american worker; basically saying we sleep all day or don't like working 7 days a week.

Listen carefully if you don't like the USA then you can leave anytime, we are not twisting your arm to stay.
Furthermore, Americans should have some pride in not only "our" Country but also the american worker that is struggleing to survive.

Defects, errors & accidents occur in every country; after all - we are human.

 

[justperry]

I am a union employee and don't like it when people that live in the USA make fun or insult the american worker.
Additionally, many foreigners come to the USA and for an unknown reason insult the USA and the american worker; basically saying we sleep all day or don't like working 7 days a week.

Listen carefully if you don't like the USA then you can leave anytime, we are not twisting your arm to stay.
Furthermore, Americans should have some pride in not only "our" Country but also the american worker that is struggleing to survive.

Defects, errors & accidents occur in every country; after all - we are human.

Are you serious here, what makes you think the OP is non American, or are you trying to be sarcastic?

But, I don't believe the OP, store employees won't tell you anything like that let alone two stores, I call BS on that.

And, there will always be returns, no matter where they are made or assembled.
Don't think they are of lesser quality if they where made in The States, might be even better.
Also, what is wrong with the returned iMacs, might just be software problems.

 

[atteligibility]

I am a union employee and don't like it when people that live in the USA make fun or insult the american worker.
Additionally, many foreigners come to the USA and for an unknown reason insult the USA and the american worker; basically saying we sleep all day or don't like working 7 days a week.

Listen carefully if you don't like the USA then you can leave anytime, we are not twisting your arm to stay.
Furthermore, Americans should have some pride in not only "our" Country but also the american worker that is struggleing to survive.

Defects, errors & accidents occur in every country; after all - we are human.

are you for real?

 

[SuperCyborg]

many foreigners come to the USA and for an unknown reason insult the USA and the american worker

Because America sucks. I work with immigrants from Africa, Bulgaria and Iran. ALL say it was a mistake to come here, they believed the hype of "The American Dream" and quickly found out our healthcare, education and work ethics suck.

Listen carefully if you don't like the USA then you can leave anytime

False.
Many immigrants, and people that were born here, are unable to leave the country. Most people don't have the financial means (many immigrants give up everything to leave their home country).
Answer honestly here, NJelect; Can you afford to drop everything and move to a different country?

The ones I work with can't. Many are refugees from war countries and the man from Bulgaria doesn't want to cut the ties his family has built here (at least until his daughter finishes school).

Furthermore, Americans should have some pride in not only "our" Country

Being born here doesn't mean we have to have pride in the country, people cannot choose where they are born.

but also the american worker that is struggleing to survive.

Because we suck at everything.
We won't do labor, we have very little technological knowledge and we want outrageous pay to do very little.

 

[LachlanH]

I am not American nor do I live in America so if I bought a product made in the USA and it was of poor quality I am perfectly entitled to complain about it There's a reason no country wants American cars (To be fair, my Australian made Ford is the most unreliable of the 4 cars I have owned yet was the most expensive)

Anyway, end of the day I couldn't care less where my Apple products are made provided those who made it were paid to do so, and that it is of a quality that reflects the price I paid.

 

[NJelect]

Perhaps, many people have taken my words and feel insulted.

The above can be perceived in a variety of ways - yet over a long period of time I have noticed many difficult problems within the USA that have been conntributed from a variety of sources.

When the industrial revolution was at its heyday the American worker was a craftsman, they produced an excellent product.
Sadly, through the arogance of free trade along with NAFTA the american businessman was allowed to seek cheaper labor in foreign Countries.
The above condition should have been controlled in a more linear manner similar to England and France.
Both England and France along with other countries placed large limits on imports, the above is essential since it continues to allow their people a thriving workplace (for the most part).
When the American worker notices plant closings along with continual layoff notices we lose belief in ourself; we become a victim of neglect.
The above causes many torments along with hardship all of which could have easily been properly executed to reduce the grief.

I myself joke about some of the manufacturing work (very limited) in the USA but it is not meant to depict hatred or dislike but rather the sad significant element that has brought about the problem.
Today, manufacturing in the USA is beyond repair, our once great country is basically gutted in reference to the typical american worker - the few that have work may appear at time to show a lesser productive interest compared to our foreign counterpart.
However, the latter is generally due to the continual view of all our work going overseas - essentially we lose hope for not only our future but the future prospects of our children.
The people in America do not need to insult our Country, the latter only causes more problems and the foreign worker residing in the USA should pay more respect to the new Country they currently live in.
Insulting a Country that one is living in has no merit or virtue toward any future economic values.
Furthermore, all of the above is not "my opinion", take a good look around - the situation began well over 25 years ago!

Again, sorry if I offended anyone and I hope you can accept my apology.

 

[bflowers]

Because we suck at everything.
We won't do labor, we have very little technological knowledge and we want outrageous pay to do very little.

This is a sad but true evaluation of what America is becoming. I've worked with people who have as many luxury items as I do, but get everything given to them by the government welfare state. My wife and I paid our own way for college and graduate school, have a large chunk of our income stolen by the government, just to support the lazy people leaching off the middle and upper class. It will never end, as the politicians are effectively buying votes by giving all these 'entitlements' to people that don't feel the need to contribute to our society. SuperCyborg is right though, it would be prohibitively difficult to just pack up and move to another country.

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(To be fair, my Australian made Ford is the most unreliable of the 4 cars I have owned yet was the most expensive)

Haven't you ever heard the saying 'FORD stands for Fix Often oR Daily!' Everyone knows that Well, it is a common enough saying where I live anyway.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

In my lifetime - over 40 years - Made in USA - has never been a sign of quality built hard goods. Japan, yes. Germany, sure.

The Post WW II USA was know for pushing out product fast, not building to meticulous standard or attention to detail. That kind of manufacturing costs real money and requires actual skill.